Is E-mail The Ultimate Online Marketing Tool?

Do you do email marketing?

Or are you one of those people who think it’s passé?

Online marketing is a fast-moving industry, so it’s easy to fall into the trap of mindlessly doing what’s trendy. Of course, whenever some new technique becomes all the rage, something else has to fall by the wayside, no matter how tried or tested it is. And email marketing is often the first to get chopped.

This is a mistake.

Granted, email isn’t sexy or cutting-edge, but it’s proven to get results. In fact, it might just be the ultimate online marketing tool.

Read on to see why.

Email Is Permission Marketing At It’s Finest

That’s A LOT of marketing. It’s way more than the average consumer can stomach. In fact, it’s probably safe to say that said average consumer will ignore most marketing messages for this very reason. This means it’s harder than ever to grab a customer’s attention.

Permission marketing can be a really effective way to deliver your message, because it targets people who are already receptive to it. And if they’re already interested, it’s much easier to make a sale, isn’t it?

Email marketing is permission marketing in action.

People need to opt in to receive your email newsletter. They’re already interested in your message, and they’re asking you to send your marketing materials their way. That means there’s a greater chance they might actually read your emails. Get it right, and they’re much more likely to turn into customers.

But that’s only the beginning.

Email Is Personal

The more personal you get, the more successful your marketing is. That’s just a fact of life. No one wants to feel like a business prospect.

Email marketing is as personal as it gets.

For one, it sends your message straight into your audience’s electronic inner sanctum – their inbox – where it cannot be ignored.

But email is also a medium that lends itself better to customisation than social media ever could. And it’s not just about addressing each recipient by name, either.

Email marketing tools make it easy to segment your readers. You can send out tailored emails or even targeted promotions to different groups at different times of the day. This kind of highly personal marketing makes your readers much more likely to respond than if you had sent out a generic message.

Email Has More Reach Than Social Media

Most of the time, pushing out a Facebook status or a tweet feels like trying to have a conversation in the midst of a tornado.

News feeds are a near constant barrage of information. It’s the easiest thing in the world for your message to get completely lost or ignored.

Besides, Facebook wants you to pay for reach, which drives up the cost of your marketing campaign.

Email, on the other hand, goes straight into your audience’s inbox, where they can’t miss it. Barring the odd spam filter, that’s almost 100% reach on the first attempt.

What’s more, it will demand attention, even in the most badly managed of inboxes. Unless your reader opens it or deletes it, that email isn’t going anywhere. It’s just the nature of the beast.